For years, members of California’s EV community have been whirring about in their golf carts, Th!nks, GEMs, and other electric runabouts (until 2003, that included a bunch of GM EV1s), and parking in a limited number of public spots equipped with charging stations at malls, airports, and the occasional Mickey D’s. But the promise of more plug-in vehicles from several automakers—tens of thousands in the near future, and possibly many more in the long term—has prompted a new wave of policy discussions.
The current hot topic in the Golden State is the short, simply-worded California bill AB 475, which is backed by General Motors and currently sits on Governor Brown’s desk awaiting action. It would allow not only EVs, but also E-REVs and plug-in hybrids, to use public charging stations in designated parking spots. More important, though, it would require the vehicles to actually be plugged in and using the spot for its intended purpose, and not simply because it’s close to storefronts, airport terminals, or the like. Unless an EV is actively being charged, it should be parked in the main lot with the rest of us, the law says. Violators would face a fine or towing.
Someone’s Charging, Lord, Kumbaya
What’s got the EV community in California particularly riled up is that there are currently more EV spots than actual charging stations to serve them, which has resulted in a practice called “plug sharing.” This occurs when the cords of one or more plug-in vehicles can reach a single charging station that’s already in use; the driver of the late-arriving vehicle unplugs the one that was there first—without the knowledge of that vehicle’s driver. The “plug thief” may or may not know if the first car was fully charged yet, and if they are especially low on electricity, likely won’t care.
In a small, tight-knit community, plug sharing can work. But even the most gracious EV driver must concede that plug sharing relies solely on human decency. As a matter of statewide public policy, relying on good samaritan behavior is totally unworkable, especially if the outcome can immobilize another motorist. What happens when someone intending to “share” a charger for 10 minutes forgets to reconnect the car he or she unplugged? Or if that 10-minute trip becomes a two-hour lunch with an old friend? Worse, imagine a Leaf or Tesla driver uses most of their charge en route to the airport, plugs it in before take-off, then, upon landing, finds out that it’s been unplugged since right after they left. And then there’s the matter of allowing a stranger to tamper with one’s vehicle or charging cord at all; we’re probably not alone in balking at this idea.
While AB 475 rules out plug-sharing as a matter of general policy—even if you put your EV in a non-EV spot, borrowing the plug from an EV in a designated spot would leave that car parked illegally—it should be noted that the bill allows local communities to actually supersede state law and establish their own charger-sharing protocols, so cities that currently enjoy effective plug-sharing practices among their citizens may simply write their own policies. But as the number of EV drivers grows, so too will the number of insensitive jerks driving them. AB 475 is not perfect—it doesn’t tell lot owners what to do with the extra, non-charger-equipped EV spots, for example—but it does direct newly built lots at various facilities to install one charging station per designated EV charging spot moving forward, to help develop infrastructure and effectively render plug-sharing and all of its opportunities for abuse less likely.
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